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Spring/Summer 2024’s hottest trend? Visible panties. Not an easy look to pull off in everyday life.
First seen on the Miu Miu Autumn/Winter 2023 runway, underwear-as-outerwear was everywhere this season; worn solo at Acne, Victoria Beckham, Gucci and Tom Ford, or barely concealed by sheer dresses or skirts at Dior, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Mugler and Nina Ricci. According to fashion search engine Tagwalk, 38 per cent of designers who showed in Paris this season featured panties in their collections. Meanwhile, hotpants have surged 114 per cent in terms of share per collection in SS24 compared to AW23. Celebrities and Vogue editors have experimented, but what about the rest of us? Are people actually buying in?
Sheer fabrics made a “triumphant” return this season, says Browns womenswear director Heather Gramston. “The trend feels like a shift away from the simpler approach to dressing that dominated the collections, towards a subtle approach to sexy with the sheer element keeping the look from feeling too classic,” she says, noting examples like Khaite, Christopher Esber and Prada. “We’ve seen the trend manifest in a few ways including knitwear and shirting as well as manipulating the form and structure of opaque fabrics.”
It’s not the first time we’ve seen knickers on the runway. British Vogue’s Julia Hobbs pointed out that Kate Moss wore them under sheer fabric in Miu Miu’s SS96 show. However, the trend has been bubbling up on social media over the last year, experts agree, after celebrities started stepping out without their trousers. In September 2022, images of model Bella Hadid wearing panties and eating pizza on the street went viral. And days later, Kylie Jenner wore white Loewe ones with a white tank top to the brand’s SS23 show in Paris. Then, in November 2022, her sister Kendall Jenner stepped out in panties, tights and a sweater in New York City.
Why is the trend emerging now? Mytheresa vice president of buying Tiffany Hsu offers an explanation: “I think we have been seeing a lot of maxi hemlines in the recent past so it’s the opposite for a bit of ease and sportiness. I personally think that’s great.”
Panties have long been prevalent in fashion editorials, too. Julia von Boehm, fashion stylist and creative director, says: “I have always played with panties in my work as a stylist; it’s very pretty with a pair of fine tights to contrast with a classic top of a well-behaved girl.” Spot on, Miu Miu has been pairing panties with a cardigan and flat shoes. That look on the actor Emma Corrin at the Venice film festival created a buzz. “You cannot replicate that surprise on the red carpet, while in editorials you can play with it indefinitely,” Von Boehm notes.
Victoria Dartigues, merchandising director of fashion and accessories at La Samaritaine, highlights micro shorts at Gucci and the embroidered ones at Stella McCartney, bodysuits at Victoria Beckham and Acne, knickers with a biker jacket at Chloé, the rainbow short at Casablanca and panties with a tank top at Marni. “Underwear (bras and knickers) is really in vogue. It’s working well with the transparency trend we’ve been seeing everywhere. And, of course, our purchases reflect this trend. We didn’t hesitate to buy sheer dresses and trousers that would subtly reveal the undergarments.”
Direct-to-consumer partywear label Cultnaked was ahead of the curve when it came to bold barely-there dressing, benefitting from the social media buzz. Founded by Ukrainian influencer Mary Furtas in 2018, the aptly named brand launched panties and sparkly “naked” dresses in Autumn 2022, with Furtas posting images of herself on Instagram in the outfit. “When we used to start on sheer pieces years ago my team would be like, ‘But who’s going to buy it? Who’s going to wear it?’ I’m like, ‘Me. I will,’” she says. Panties are a risqué item “not everyone can play around with,” she adds, but says the Cultnaked sheer pieces are highly popular, sold DTC and on Revolve.
The Cultnaked customer might be bold, but buyers acknowledge that for consumers in general, even the fashion savvy ones, it’s perhaps not feasible to walk around with underwear on show. Jennifer Cuvillier, fashion director at Le Bon Marché says panties and micro shorts on the runway brought interesting novelty in terms of silhouettes and styling, but it’s not necessarily something that the store will develop commercially with brands.
“Some customers — but far from the majority — really dare to show off their underwear,” says La Samaritaine’s Dartigues. “The more commercial version would be more suggestive. We do have a few very image-oriented knickers in our purchases, but there are few units and are more statement purchases than commercial performance purchases.”
Some retailers are making adaptations to risqué pieces to better suit their average shopper. Browns bought into an array of sheer pieces for SS24, many of which will be lined for ease of wearing and styling, Gramston says. “Micro shorts were also a key shape seen at Gucci, Prada and Versace, all of which can be worn with sheer pieces for some more minimal coverage,” she says. “And sheer dresses and tops can be layered over trousers and slips, as not all customers will want to forgo a bra and bottoms.”
Harrods expects many pieces with sheer fabrications to arrive in store come Spring, which will be further adapted as the seasons progress, says buying director Simon Longland. “The degree of sheer shown on the runways was expertly used as a device for the collections to make a statement; the reality is that many of these pieces will come with linings in production – so the sheer layer in dresses, tops and skirts will remain but with the ability to adopt in a more modest way, which is much more wearable for our clientele.”
As Mytheresa’s Hsu puts it: “It is definitely a trend and I think we will see it being styled in many ways.”
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